I Won’t Light a Candle Yet For You

This vocalized version of the theme from Schindler’s List has long stirred my heart… As if the agony-touched notes of the film score weren’t enough–Natasha Marsh’s lyrics seem to speak especially to me.

Yesterday I swore I saw you reaching for my hand… Then you begged me “Please forget me!” but how could you understand? that letting go’s the last thing I could do… So I won’t light a candle yet for you.

For me this seems the song of every mother, lover, friend who’s lost someone–to war, to distance, to time. They are the words of the one “who loves longest… even when all hope is gone” (Anne, Persuasion). For ours is not to forget but to love. Not to let go but to bear on. To suffer the endurance of memory and agony of hope. To wear the yoke of love.